flame, in three parts
by Meia
Summary: Three people talking about three people, a recurring flame motif (...kinda), and... a really stupid title.


Warning: Vague spoilers for all of the manga.   
  
I hope you can figure out whose POV is whose, it should be quite obvious. Hao gave me FITS. .x   
  
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flame, in three parts  
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(i: her)  
  
It's a silly little game that they both play, where she pretends that she's not deeply in love with him, and he pretends that he doesn't know she is. He also pretends to be terrified of her, but that might just be because she'll slap him if he doesn't.  
  
Loving him is not an easy thing to do. He is almost incapable of being serious, he refuses to believe anything but the best of people, and he takes crazy risks to prove himself right about them. He was the one who taught her the alternative to hating people for hating her; now she just dislikes them for being irredeemably stupid.   
  
Loving him is not easy, but she has never contemplated the alternative, even though...  
  
He is going to die. She is as sure of this as she is of her own abilities, and the fact that she loves him. Without the great spirits, without being shaman king, his brother will consume him, immolate him--not in his spirit of fire, but in himself. Everything won't turn out all right in the end.   
  
But she loves him, and so she will believe in him, as she always has.  
  
Sometimes, she thinks that it would be nice to continue hating people. Hate is icy and cutting and sure. The uncertainty of love will break her in the end.   
  
--  
  
(ii: you)  
  
Everyone gets that feeling sometime, where it seems as though there's something beside them, but when they look, no one's there.  
  
You're a shaman. Usually, when you get that feeling, you turn and wave. You shouldn't have the problem that so many others do, but nevertheless, for the past fifteen years, you /have/.  
  
As though there's something you've been missing, something close and important and just not there...  
  
It's a twin-sized, twin-shaped void that has accompanied you for fifteen years, you know now, and he's not here because he's probably off creating mayhem somewhere else. It's a stressful thought, and you hate stress.  
  
He draws you, your brother, the same way your fiancee drew you so many years ago, with her sharp glass edges and eyes the colour of tragedy. His eyes are madness, and he has no edges, in the same way that flame has none--going close will not cut you as she did, but burn.   
  
He doesn't want to kill you, which is sort of a relief, but not quite, because everyone else seems to be fair game. He doesn't seem to want to kill your fiancee, either. He wants you to join him, he wants her to join him... you get the feeling that he would be very happy if he could have you both, at the same time, and that's... actually, it's kind of creepy.  
  
You feel as though you should hate him, but you don't really. He's so very like you, and he's so very like your fiancee. And you managed to save her once, sort of, and you love her, in your own way.   
  
Maybe it's useless. Maybe you can't do anything for him. Maybe he's beyond your help. You know you can't help everybody, but that isn't going to stop you from trying.   
  
--  
  
(iii: I)  
  
People say I'm crazy. Some think I'm evil. It doesn't really matter, but for what it's worth, they're wrong. All I want to do is change the world; even if they don't agree with my methods, they should know better than to get in my way.   
  
I don't mean anything personal by it. I suppose you could think of it as getting a bit of a headstart--after I'm done with the tournament, after I'm done with the world, they'll be picking through bone for centuries.  
  
I will purify the world with fire and recreate it from ashes, not for my own amusement, but because it has to be done. The world cannot be allowed to continue the way it is now. Something has to change.  
  
I want him to join me, because he's got the most right to be a part of this cause. But my cute little brother doesn't understand me, and so he hates me for what I'm doing. My cute little brother's even cuter fiancee /does/ understand--and that's why she hates me even more.   
  
He'll learn, sooner or later. He--my younger twin and other half--he wants to change the world, too, in his own gentle way. He just hasn't yet realised that sometimes, some things have to burn.   
  
But I'll wait for him to grow older and wiser and stronger, and I'll be there when he finally understands. It might take a while, but I don't mind. I'm a patient person. I have all the time in the world.  
  
And in the end, I always get what I want.   
  
  
-owari- 


End file.
